1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drill having disk furrow openers mounted forwardly of a furrow closing seed compacting press wheel and more particularly to a device mounted forwardly of the disk furrow openers for parting dry soil or trash forwardly of the disk furrow openers.
Grain drills utilize a pair of disk furrow openers whose individual disks are set at an acute angle to the line of travel for opening a furrow of a selected depth which is then closed by a trailing pressure wheel compacting the soil falling back into the furrow on seed planted in the furrow between the disk furrow openers. Such a drill works satisfactory under normal or optimum conditions. However, in dry land farming and at the time of optimum seed planting, the soil many times lacks sufficient moisture to germinate seed when planted at the desired depth. The soil being dry at that depth and hence a lack of moisture, the seed fails to germinate resulting in a poor stand and considerable harvest loss.
If, in such dry soil conditions, the furrow openers and pressure wheel are set to a deeper soil depth to place the seed in a moist area the resulting depth of a furrow has a comparable result, a poor stand and a loss of harvest, as a result of the seed being planted at such a depth that it does not succeed in penetrating the soil after germination.
2. Description of Prior Art
I do not know of any prior patent disclosing a device such as mine which removes dry soil forwardly of the path of travel of the disk furrow opener of a drill. Prior patents generally relate to the feature of runners or compactors adjacent the soil opening disk which insure that the soil is moved back into furrow covering position without being inverted and dispersing herbicides which may have been sprayed on the soil between harvest and planting time, to prevent damage to or retarding the germination of seeds planted in such furrows.